I don’t have much time.
“Can you fucking see her?” Jack asks again.
“No, but I’m going to try to get to her!” I call back.
Smoke billows up into the air as the fire rages on, eating up the trees like a shining beacon of death and decay intent on killing everything in sight.
My vampire form is weak, so transforming into a bat is out of the question, but I chance using my speed. I rush through the wall of fire, feeling the flames rip at my skin as I pass through. I scream out in utter pain, but I make it through. My skin is smoking, singed, and it feels like every nerve ending has been ripped open.
I collapse coughing hard next to Lydia’s barely conscious body. And then I see her wrists ripped open and I know she’s dying. “Lydia!” I sob. She looks half dead already. Her lips are devoid of any color and her eyes are unfocused looking up into the sky with tears streaming down the sides of her face.
There is no magic cure for a curse as strong as this.
Her only option is one I don’t know if she’ll want.
“Lydia, I can save you if you want me to. But I’d have to turn you into a vampire. Please. Let me save you,” I beg.
Her voice garbles and lashes flutter.
The sound of her heart beating becomes so faint I can barely hear it.
If I’m going to do this, it has to be now.
Oh, God. Please forgive me, I think as I sink my fangs into her neck and initiate the transformation.
I just hope I’m not too late.
Once someone dies, there’s no getting them back no matter how powerful someone is.
Chapter 26
Lydia
My brain feels fuzzy. Like someone stuffed cotton inside of it. I go to lick my lips because my throat feels so dry. I need water. No, not water. I need something though, because I’m so thirsty.
But when my tongue hits my lips, I feel two very sharp unfamiliar teeth scraping against it. My eyes fly open, and I’m met with pitch black nothingness.
I sit up fast and my head swims.
“Woah. Take it easy.”
That voice. I know that voice, I think.
A light gets turned on and I wince. It’s too fucking bright. When I can finally open my eyes, I find myself in an unfamiliar room. My body is wearing the softest cashmere pajamas and the bed I’m in has powder blue sheets and a soft white comforter. Looking around I see the three men that I’ve come to know and care about deeply. So deeply that it scares the shit out of me.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Do you remember anything?” Jack asks, coming to sit next to me on the bed, taking my hand in his. I trace his tattoos with my eyes, trying to figure out what I remember and why I feel so weird.
Maverick is the farthest away and won’t look me straight in the eye. I wonder what that’s about but then flashes of fire and pain start coming back.
“There was a woman,” I say.
Jack nods his head. “I killed her,” he tells me with a squeeze around my hand.
“She wanted to kill me.”
He nods his head solemnly. “That’s right.”
